DRUŻBICKI, GASPAR

Ascetical writer and preacher, who, with lancicius, has been called the most notable of 17th-century Polish Jesuits; b. Sieradz, Jan 6, 1590; d. Posen, April 2, 1662. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1609. He taught for several years, part of the time instructing in logic at Lublin; he was then master of novices for seven years, and rector of the colleges at Kalisz, Ostrog, and Posen. In 1632 he wrote a brief defense of the society against a writer of the Cracow Academy. Twice he was provincial of the Polish province (1629–33, 1650–54), and participated in the seventh and tenth general congregations of the society.

Practically all of his voluminous ascetical writings in Latin and Polish, mostly treatises on the religious life and a series of meditations, were published after his death. A list of them occupies 12 columns in Sommervogel. An accurate chronology of their composition is impossible. Many of his works have been translated into German and English, and a Spanish translation of his treatise on religious vows has been found in the library at Guadalajara, Mexico.

Among his better known works are: Exercitia tironum religiosorum in duodecim menses distributa; Vota religiosa seu tractatus de votis religiosis in communi et particulari; Lapis Lydius boni spiritus sive considerationes de soliditate verae virtutis; and Sublimitas perfectionis religiosae LXXIX discursibus explicata. A collection of his Opera Ascetica was published at Kalisz and Posen c. 1686–91 and reedited with additions at Ingolstadt in 1732.

Bibliography: l. koch, ed., Jesuiten-Lexikon (Paderborn 1934) 458. c. sommervogel et al., Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, 11 v. (Brussels-Paris 1890–1932) 3:212–224. d. pawlowski, Vita P. Gasparis Druzbicki, Poloni, Societatis Jesu (1670).

[w. j. fulco]